Part 2: A Shinigami Education
by Sarah Mercury
Summary: My OC from my Part 1 story returns to go through the Shinigami Academy. Along the way, she learns more than what the Academy can teach her. ZarakixOC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**: Thank you for all my reviewers on my Part 1. I hope you enjoy Part 2.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any Bleach related characters, situations, terminology, etc.

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"_I've never let my __school__ interfere with my education_." -- _Mark Twain_

**Part II**: **Chapter I**

It had been almost a week since her admittance to the Shinigami Academy. During the orientation, they almost threw her out, because her name was not on the roster, due to the fact that she never completed the entrance exam and was not given special liberties since she was also not of noble birth. It caused a lengthy pause in the proceedings until the receptionist who admitted her could be reached in order to explain the situation. During that time, Sakina was met with disapproving eyes, not-so-subtle insults and general dislike.

At first she assumed it was because she was from Rukongai. But then she found out, though accidentally, that only ten to twenty percent of her classmates were from well-to-do families and the rest were from even worse places in Rukongai than herself. Then she decided that they hated her because she was accepted into the Academy without completing the exam, which she found, again accidentally, that was only half the reason. The other half was that no one could detect any sort of reiatsu from her. That meant that, even if she did manage to graduate, she would not get a good posting in any Squad. Those of her classmates who were striving to be the best thought that made her unworthy of their time.

After the matter was finally cleared, and her instructor appeared before the class once more, the first words he spoke made Sakina doubt she would graduate at all. "I don't care if you're from Rukongai, or if you're the highest of nobility. If you don't achieve at the very least a sixty percent on all tests, nor show any improvement, however small, in your Kidou lessons or sparring lessons, I will fail you without a blink."

Sakina gulped loudly, which made the two people on either side of her snicker. She knew it wasn't going to be easy to be a shinigami, but she never really knew the extent. Her instructor, a fat, balding man with very thick spectacles, was a much harsher tutor than her grandmother, who forgave her if she were slow to learn something. She was also uncomfortable in the class as a whole; she lived in a small, country home for three centuries and never had contact with anyone except her grandmother in that time. Now she was in a class with more than three dozen people, half of whom were whispering about her and the other half ignoring her. She felt like there was not enough air to go around for all of them, in that small classroom.

The instructor continued, "To become shinigami, one must master all sides of one's soul. Master the art of Kidou, hand-to-hand fighting, footwork and of course swordsmanship. This is the art of Zankensouki. You can _never_ become a shinigami unless all sides of Zankensouki are reached!"

_Unless certain exceptions are made_, Sakina thought to herself. Like her shinigami friend. She lowered her head and blushed. Thinking about him brought back all the memories of the few days they spent together. She started fiddling with some of her notes as she recalled some of the feelings she had to deal with when he was around. His warmth, his odd sense of morality, the way his thick, rough skin felt touching hers…

"Forgive me, Miss Hiroki," the instructor said, loudly and dramatically. Sakina lifted her head and blushed embarrassingly at the absolute quiet in the classroom. "I was unaware that someone of _your_ obviously great talents would be at all interested in what _I_ have to say. Of course, you getting into the Academy without doing the entrance exam entitles you to the liberty of daydreaming in _my_ classroom. Forgive my interruption."

Her face burned as the class laughed at her. The instructor did not silence it until the message bore itself into her mind: pay attention in class, or don't bother coming. She lowered her head again to stare at her notes as the instructor continued his lecture about the art of Zankensouki. Her two classmates on either side of her were not finished laughing, and every now and then would either snicker at her, or repeat what the instructor had said, quietly of course, then laughing at her reaction to it.

She later discovered that these two classmates were named Iba Leiko, the boy on her right, and Yumi Amarante, the girl on her left. Yumi, like Sakina, grew up in Rukongai, but she grew up in serious poverty. She lived in Sector 12, and was nearly forgotten by everyone in the area, until she displayed her surprisingly steady talent with reiatsu. She was using Kidou magic before she even knew what it was. She was also two years younger than Sakina, but her knowledge about Seireitei and Soul Society in general outmatched Sakina in every way. She also passed her entrance exam on the first try.

The boy, Iba Leiko, was a totally different story. As he would tell anyone who had ears, he was the first cousin of Seventh Squad's lieutenant, Iba Tetsuzaemon. After his cousin got the promotion, Iba moved in with him, in Seireitei. A bit spoiled, but highly gifted, Iba would train with his cousin whenever the latter had downtime. His skills in swordsmanship were unmatched by any of his classmates, and as such, he was accepted into the Academy, despite his lack of reiatsu. He also failed the entrance exam four times.

It was because of those failures that made him hate Sakina so much. The fact that he was smarter and more gifted than her, yet she got into the Academy without trying, made him jealous, and so he would always pick on her, make fun of her, and belittle her in every way, so that he could feel superior. The whole week leading up to the orientation he spent over-exaggerating his abilities whenever she was around, also gaining his other classmates' trust and getting them to join him against her.

That was one of the big reasons why she still had no friends. When she introduced herself to her roommate at the Academy's dorms, her roommate immediately packed her things and left. Which actually didn't insult Sakina as much as she thought, considering she then had the dorm all to herself; a safe Haven in case things at the Academy go bad. Spending three centuries in solitude made her a bit of a loner, and so she always valued her peace and quiet. Even though, sometimes, she'd listen to the sounds of laughter and companionship coming from outside her dorm with a lonely heart, she was, for the most part, glad that no one was annoying her.

And it was the annoyance factor mostly that made her sometimes detest going to class. She was there to learn, to become a shinigami, but the fact that Iba sat next to her, deliberately, so he could torture her between lectures, and the fact that the classroom was uncomfortably stuffy, and mostly for the fact that she could hardly concentrate with all the accusing eyes on her, it all made her feel like she shouldn't belong in Seireitei at all. But she couldn't help Rukongai unless she became a shinigami, so despite all the new problems she had to face in her classroom, in her dorm, or on the grounds, she never let it completely deter her; in fact, it only made her work harder.

There was one day, however, that tested her resolve to the breaking point. It was several days after the initial orientation. Her class had been given a mountain of homework, so she spent a better part of the day in the library. She was currently lugging so many books with her that while they were teaching her what she needed for class, they were also teaching her the better points of balance. In order to get back to her dorm from the library, she had to cross the large, wide courtyard. It was there that most students migrate to between classes. There was a glorious fountain in the middle, where she, unfortunately, saw Iba and Yumi sitting on the edge of. They were reading from some text book that Sakina no doubt also had, amongst the piles she was lugging in her arms. The only way to avoid them was to go back to the library and walk through the brambles of forestry on the other side, thereby taking almost half an hour longer to get to her dorm. And the books were exceedingly heavy.

So she swallowed the lump of fear in her throat and walked on. She just crossed the area where the fountain was when she heard a nosy, spoiled, male voice speak up, "Oy, Hiroki. Wait up a minute!"

She, of course, had no intention of stopping. When she kept walking in the direction of the dorms, she felt a slender, tougher, feminine hand on her shoulder, gripping until Sakina stopped. "Iba said wait a minute," Yumi's slightly rebellious voice hissed at her.

Sakina's eyes widened a bit, but not so much that the circle of curious spectators would see it. She watched Iba come around to stand in front of her, deliberately blocking her. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"My dorm," she answered, bluntly.

"Why not hang out with us for a while?" He gestured to the crowd, now getting larger around her, blocking all form of escape. The feeling of being a trapped rat entered her mind and made her eyes widen more noticeably in fear.

Yumi, standing next to Iba, remarked, "Oh, I think you're scaring her, Iba."

The two of them grinned sardonically. He said, loudly and dramatically, "It's in my nature to invoke fear in others. After all, I _am_ the cousin of Seventh's Squad's lieutenant, aren't I?"

Sakina scoffed, for a moment forgetting her fear. "Can you go _one_ day without saying that? We get it. You're not going to get special dispensation for it."

Outraged, he grabbed the collar of Sakina's white-and-red school uniform roughly, causing her to drop all her books and papers. He growled to her face, "At least I got into this Academy on my _own_ merit, even if it did take five tries to do it! I didn't get my cousin to do it for me!"

The crowd cheered wildly. Apparently, they weren't done rubbing that in her face. She blushed embarrassingly, which only made Iba and Yumi laugh at her. Iba threw her down on her books, causing them to scatter around. Yumi said, "I've been practising my Kidou, Iba."

"Oh, really?"

Sakina knew what was coming next, so she worked quickly to gather her books and papers up. If Yumi was going to attempt to use Kidou on her, she was going to run away before she could even get the chant finished. The only problem was, even though Yumi was the class' best Kidou user, in her haste, Sakina forgot that Iba was the class' best swordsman. So when Sakina was finished gathering her books and such, before she could run, Iba drew his sword and pointed it to her neck. "I've been practising my sparring," Iba said, quietly, but dripping with sarcasm.

Sakina, again, dropped her books and papers in fear. She vaguely heard Yumi chant, "_Oh, ruler! Mask of flesh and blood_…"

"How do you already have a sword?" Sakina asked Iba, fearfully. "We're not assigned any until we start the sparring lessons!"

"… _all creations of the universe, fluttering of the wings_…"

"I got it from my cousin," Iba explained. "It was his old training sword."

"… _ye who bears the name of man_!"

She looked over at Yumi, who had her eyes closed, so she could concentrate on her incantation. She may have been gifted in Kidou, but had no training in control. Sakina looked again at Iba and realized that even if he was gifted in swordplay, he also had no training in control. His cousin may have taught him the basics, but she doubted he taught him much of anything else. Therefore, the best way to get out of the situation was to rush at Iba. He wouldn't expect that; he probably thought she'd be a good girl and stand still with a blade pointed at her throat.

"… _Scorching heat and disorder_…"

She bent down, under his blade, then made her charge. While hunched, she took a step towards Iba's stomach, and while he was still wondering what was going on, she punched him in his chest. She ignored the pain in her fist and instead took advantage of his momentary confusion by using her other hand to knock the sword out of his. Then she spun quickly around on one foot and used the other to kick him in the same spot that she punched. Though it hurt less, the force of her foot on his chest, as he backed up from the momentum, caused Sakina to fall over on her stomach.

"…_evolve the transposition of the southern sea barrier_!"

"Shit!" Sakina muttered, scrambling back to her feet and running in whatever direction she was facing. The crowd, shocked that she had disarmed the best swordsman in the class, was too confused to try to stop her from rushing towards them, so instead they just moved out of her way.

But it was too late. Yumi quickly opened her eyes, judged the distance and position of her target and chanted the final part of the incantation: "_Hadou 31: Shakkahou_!" From her hands, pointed at the retreating victim, came a large flame ball that transgressed across the courtyard and smashed painfully into Sakina's back. The young woman practically flew forward, sliding on the ground until her head connected with a tree, stopping her.

The crowd laughed and cheered, but Sakina could not hear it. She lay on the ground, breathing noisily, and unconscious. Iba picked up his fallen sword and swung it over and onto his shoulder. He and Yumi, who was also breathing noisily, walked up to Sakina. The force of the flame ball was such that when she hit the tree, she caused a horrific dent. She would be unconscious for a long time. Iba remarked, "You've got a lot of training to do, Yumi. It didn't even burn her; just scratched up her uniform. You might as well have just kicked her or something."

Yumi panted in exhaustion. Using Kidou requires an inordinate amount of reiatsu; something they still had to develop at the Academy. She replied, "At least I hit her. You got disarmed and attacked _twice_, Mr. Best Swordsman in the Class."

Iba snorted. "Yeah, we both could use some practise. Let's go to the arena." They walked passed Sakina's unconscious body and headed toward the arena, with most of the crowd following. The rest of the spectators dispersed in other directions, treading on Sakina's forgotten books and papers. No one made a move to help her, nor did anyone call for help. She just lay there, with a dented tree that had a few flecks of blood from her head on it. Except for the crowd, who would never tattle on Iba or Yumi, there were no witnesses to Sakina's painful humiliation.

Save for one…


	2. Chapter 2

"_The mildest, drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble_." -- _Clara Ortega_

**Part II**: **Chapter II**

It was past midnight when Sakina finally woke up. There was no one in the courtyard, but that was to be expected; they were either all asleep in their homes or dorms, or otherwise partying elsewhere. No one comes to the courtyard at night. Sakina's books and papers had long since either been blown away by the wind or trampled beyond repair by hastily retreating feet. Yet still Sakina lay, savagely injured, next to the tree she dented with her head, instead of in the medical ward or even in her own dorm! The horrific disregard of people supposedly her peers and upon graduation, should she happen to graduate, her team mates, made Sakina want very much to cry. She tentatively touched her head with the hand she was not lying on and let out a squeak of pain. There was a huge bump, and upon pulling her hand away, she saw a few flecks of blood on her fingers.

She tried to get up, but her body felt like it was crushed. And moving made her head spin. So she lay there, this time unable to stop the onslaught of tears. What was she thinking, trying to become a shinigami? She was fooling herself. She had no people skills, she was hopelessly naïve and, worst of all, too weak to even defend herself against an arrogant rich boy and a bullying tough girl. And since it was all too clear that she was never going to get the help of her classmates, she was doomed to forever be an outcast, whether she graduated or not.

While tears streamed down her face, and the odd whimper or two came out of her rigidly pursed mouth, she heard a small rustling from behind her. Of course she couldn't turn to see who it was, as moving caused her a great amount of dizziness, but she assumed it was either Iba or Yumi, or possibly one of her classmates, coming to finish her off. Her eyes widened a bit until she saw, coming out of the bushes in front of her, a little girl, wearing a shinigami kimono. She walked up to Sakina, looking down at her beaten body. The little girl looked so innocent, but after all the efforts it took to get to Seireitei, and what she had to put up with once there, she no longer assumed that anything _looking_ harmless _was_ harmless.

The little girl knelt down and asked, playfully, "Are you okay, little student?"

Sakina groaned a bit. "Not really. My head hurts."

She giggled, not mockingly; more like as if Sakina told a funny joke. "Yeah, you've got a really big bump!" She literally pointed it out.

"Ouch!" Sakina exclaimed, instinctively sitting up to get out of reach from the outwardly adorable little girl. Her head spun most painfully; Sakina almost fell over, but the girl, too fast for Sakina to notice, sat right next to her, sitting so close that Sakina would have to fall over her to reach the ground. Instead, she placed her hand on her head and rubbed the bump a bit. It hurt at first, but then felt a bit soothing.

"Why did you hurt the tree?" the little girl asked, inquisitively.

"Huh?" Sakina muttered, too distracted by pain to pay attention to the girl.

She gestured to the oak tree with the massive dent. "Your head did that, didn't it? Poor tree. It's even bleeding!"

Sakina looked at the dent and saw some of the blood from her own head mixed into the bark. When she looked back at the adorable little girl and noticed she was genuinely concerned for the bleeding tree, Sakina could not stop herself from laughing. It spun her head terribly, but it was so good to laugh like that, after all that had happened since the orientation. She also decided that even if the little girl was a mini-demon, she liked her. She answered, "I didn't have much of a choice. I was kind of thrown into it."

"You should apologize."

She chuckled again, relishing in the fact that if she was really a shinigami, at least she retained her childlike innocence. Sakina patted her pink-haired head and said, "Okay." She turned to the tree and made a slight inclination with her head. "I apologize, Mr. Tree. I did not mean to hurt you."

The little girl was happy about that and giggled again. "You're funny!" she remarked. "Trees don't talk!"

There was a fleeting thought in Sakina's mind that the little girl was, in fact, mocking her, but looking at her big, innocent eyes made her forgive any transgression that the little one may have made in all her life. So Sakina smiled instead and said, "I guess I forgot then."

After a small giggle, the two girls sat in silence, starring up at the stars. The chirping crickets were a little loud for Sakina's throbbing head, but otherwise the night was quite peaceful. A cool breeze washed over her, making the bump on her head tingle a bit. The little girl by her side decided that an ant carrying a small piece of food was more interesting than the stars, and instead focused on that. Her innocent, childlike interest in a tiny creature like that ant made Sakina smile. She, again, patted the little one's pink-haired head. "I bet your parents are very proud of you," Sakina murmured.

"Don't have parents," said the little girl, her gaze focused on the trudging ant. She said it so matter-of-factly, as if she were discussing the weather.

With anyone else, Sakina would have let the matter drop and either change the subject or simply say nothing at all. She didn't know much about people, but she knew that sensitive topics such as having no parents would only stir up unwanted trouble. But this little girl, even though she had a bored expression, from watching an ant carry a burden to wherever its hill was, had such a strong aura about her, and such a tense disposition despite her relaxed state, that she reminded Sakina of someone who desperately needed a hug.

So despite her head throbbing in pain, Sakina bent over to the little one and embraced her in a tight hug. Although she didn't object to it, Sakina could feel the girl tense up more, like she was confused by the sudden display of emotion. Sakina could feel her discomfort; she wanted to push away, but didn't want to make the older girl unhappy. After all, Sakina needed the hug just as much as she thought the little one did. And it broke her heart to think that if she was this uncomfortable by a mere hug, it probably meant she didn't get hugged often. For a small child, Sakina thought that was a sin.

After a while, she broke the hug and the little girl resumed her bored watch of that damned ant. If she was affected at all by the hug, she did not show it. She was so indifferent, in fact, that it was as if it never happened. It broke Sakina's heart. She said, sympathetically, "I don't have any parents, either."

"I know," came the matter-of-factly reply.

"You _know_?" she repeated, disbelievingly. "How could you _know_ something like that? We just met!"

"Ken-chan told me."

She blinked at the little girl. "Who?"

The ant, finally, disappeared in a small crevice in the ground. The pink-haired, innocent girl looked up at Sakina and smiled blissfully. "He's my friend!"

Sakina seriously doubted that this friend's real name was _Ken-chan_; she figured that was just a term of endearment. Nevertheless, apparently he told this innocent that Sakina had no parents. Considering she had no friends at the Academy and very few people at all knew much about her, it was hard for her to think of anyone she may have told that to; least of all anyone with 'Ken' in their name.

The little girl gestured to her head. "Feeling better?"

"Oh, much better. Thank you."

She smiled at her. It was a look sweet enough to melt steel, Sakina decided. She instantly fell in love with it. The little girl filled her next words with honey, "Let's go to the Quadrangle, Saki-chan!"

If she had asked her to jump off a cliff with that inflection and those eyes, Sakina would have agreed without a second thought. But before she gave her affirmation, she repeated, "Saki-chan?"

The pink-haired angel nodded and explained, "Ken-chan said that your name was Sakina, so I'll call you Saki-chan!"

She was beginning to get very suspicious of this so-called '_Ken-chan_' and how much he knew about her, only to tell it all to a sweet little girl. But for the moment she put it out of her mind and slowly stood up. Her head spun less, but she still felt a bit dizzy, having been lying down for several hours, unconscious. The little girl bounded to her feet after Sakina and instantly grabbed her hand. She looked up at the older woman affectionately.

It was then that Sakina realized this girl's danger: her seemingly unbiased sweetness and innocence would kill Sakina faster than any blade to her heart. And she was a shinigami to boot! With those eyes alone she could slay many an opponent. "Let's go to the Quadrangle then!" Sakina said, giving the little girl's hand a bit of a squeeze.

She allowed the pink thing to lead the way. She certainly walked fast, for someone so small. And Sakina didn't doubt that, if she wanted to, she could walk much faster. Even though she felt a little awkward going to the Quadrangle so late at night – or was it early? – she didn't want to dash this little girl's adventure. It seemed like the destination was so important to her little escort that she was actually rushing, despite her respectable pace to her slower companion.

The Quadrangle was close to the library, next to the schoolhouse. It was a huge, open expanse of land, with markers in the dirt to indicate distances. It was, after all, where the students went to practise Kidou magic and, to a lesser extent, swordplay. Most people did the latter in the various training rooms of the schoolhouse, but considering that Kidou can sometimes be very explosive, it was only practised on the Quadrangle.

They followed the path that led from the courtyard to the schoolhouse, and then passed through various gates and securities to get access to the Quadrangle. Even at night, it was decently lit, in case someone needed extra practise time. This night, however, there was no one there, except Sakina and a very adorable little girl. She held onto Sakina's hand until she led the older girl to the near middle of the Quadrangle; the part where students stood to fire their various Kidou magics at the awaiting markers several feet away. It was the most brightly lit of the area; for some reason, it made Sakina nervous, being so obviously out in the open.

But one look from those little, innocent eyes instantly eased Sakina's heart. She let go of the shinigami student's hand and regarded her curiously; the way a scientist regarded a test subject. She could help but smile down at her. A little disappointingly, the little girl commented, "Even in this light, I don't see it."

"See what, Sweetheart?" Sakina asked, using a term of endearment she didn't actually mean to use.

But the girl seemed not to have noticed. "You're sharp eyes, your taut face, or your strong mouth. You're smiling too much right now."

Sakina creased her brow a bit in confusion. "Huh?"

The pink-haired angel sighed exasperatingly, as if she were trying to explain this to a child. "Ken-chan says that when you're angry, you're eyes get really sharp and your mouth starts spouting words with a tone carved from the bowels of hell."

The way she said it was so pristine and perfect that she was sure the little one had quoted it directly from this '_Ken-chan_'. And even though she was outraged that her personality was being read and repeated to a little girl, she was more upset by the fact that he would use such foul language around her. But the pink-haired innocent seemed nonplused by what she had said; it was a fact, nothing more. Something she heard her careless friend say and simply repeated it back, as kids often do.

He was a bad influence and not much of a role-model. Sakina very much wanted to give this '_Ken-chan_' a piece of her mind, however deep in the bowels of hell it may come from. She asked, "Who is Ken-chan, anyway?"

The little girl squeaked happily and pointed at something over Sakina's shoulder. And even though, when she arrived, there was no one else in the Quadrangle, suddenly an all too familiar feeling of not being able to breathe, mixed with the uncomfortable sensation of being crushed in a desert with no water, fell over her. She was able to stay standing on her feet, though she didn't know how that phenomenon occurred, considering the suppressive feeling was pushing down on her shoulders. Very loose dirt from the ground rose up slightly, like there was no gravity, which was ironic considering the weighty force on her chest and shoulders.

The little girl seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the very air seemed to crackle and fall to her feet. She was even grinning broadly which, despite the circumstances, made Sakina's heart rise. Then, quite suddenly, just as the little pink-haired angel stopped pointing, the repressive feeling vanished, leaving Sakina chilly in the cool, night air. She was able to breathe again and took several deep breaths, taking in all that she missed while crawling through that desert with an anvil on her chest. But one breath caught in her throat when a very large, tough, _familiar_ hand gripped her right shoulder lightly, seemingly as if to steady her on her feet. She knew who it was even before she turned her head to look up at the man, grinning sardonically down at her, with a look in his unpatched eye that would make Satan himself shiver with fear.

"Yo," was all her Rukongai escort said to her, yet that one short utterance pierced through the clouds in her mind and made it explode with a billion sensations at once. She had so many questions to ask and so many emotions to blot away that she could not think of one single coherent reply to make to his greeting.

So she asked the most idiotic thing that her mind came up with, "_You're_ Ken-chan?"

"Tch," he scoffed, looking down at the little girl. She just beamed up at him, completely ignorant of how much evil radiated off of him, like a warm breeze that made her skin tingle in a most uncomfortable way. And he still had his hand on her shoulder. "Only Yachiru calls me that," he muttered, making it very clear that she was never to call him that again.

Of course, referring to the little pink-haired girl as Yachiru opened a floodgate of new questions. _This_ was the 'little girl' who he had talked about in Rukongai, who he found in Sector 79 and had followed him around since then. This sweet little angel was supposedly the only person who understood him. She, who looked ready to explode with happiness and giggles, best understood a man who had so many dark layers that she was sure he was part Hollow.

She found herself childishly looking back and forth between them, trying to understand how either one could stand the other. Her previous conviction of lecturing him in the ways of role-modeling for young ones was forgotten as she decided more and more that this was nothing but a sinister joke. If it _was_ true, the only thing it proved was that somewhere, deep down in his soul, there was some shred of humanity, however small it might be. She looked in his eye again and whispered, "When you talked about her I wasn't expecting her to be so young and adorable!"

He looked at the pink-haired angel, who now found a loose thread on her kimono the most fascinating thing in the world. She frowned at it in the most adorable way, fiddled with it in the most adorable way, and regarded it with the most adorable growl. Of all the 'little girls' Sakina thought of when she tried to picture Yachiru, this girl was no where near the top of that list. But the man Yachiru claimed to be her friend just snorted and said, "You think too much."

Then he finally let go of her shoulder. The breath that caught in her throat when he first put his hand there finally let out, and she suddenly felt was if she were under water and only just broke the surface. She shuddered, although there was no breeze. The man was suffocating; his personality alone seemed to eat up the air around her. A single touch made her head spin, and not from the recent pain of being jettisoned into a tree. It was forceful, aggressive, and made her body tighten uncomfortably. And even though she wanted him to move away from her, so she could breathe, at the same time, he gave her strength that she didn't otherwise have without him close by.

And that damned instinct in her brain that laid dormant since her acceptance into the Academy suddenly awoke in his presence, like a switch that shone light on her body when he was around, yet was off and cast shadows when he was gone. Try as she might, she could not think of any other instance in which a man caused so many confusing thoughts to swirl around her mind. She shook hands with the receptionist after being shown her dorm, as well as her instructor on her first day; even Iba made contact with her when he was attacking her or mocking her. But none of them made her choke on her own breath the way he did with a simple pat on the shoulder, or that insatiable look in his eye.

He walked up beside Yachiru. The little one decided, for now at least, to ignore the loose thread on her kimono and instead climbed up her friend's back to perch on his shoulder. Her head popped over it, like looking over a wall, while the rest of her body dangled behind it. He seemed not to notice and didn't even need to compensate for the weight by shifting at all. He just glared down at Sakina, the look enhanced by the field lights around the Quadrangle. But for a change, Sakina was not looking at his face; his new spot in front of her, and Yachiru's new appearance at his shoulder, made her suddenly notice what he was wearing.

He still had on the black kimono with the white sash that she got used to seeing when he was trekking her through Rukongai, but there was something new to his wardrobe: it was a white haori, as long as he was tall, that he wore overtop. It did not close up in the front, so anyone looking at him could tell he was a shinigami. On the bottom, around the fraying hem, was a series of black spots, obviously for aesthetic quality. On the back, which she could hardly see at the angle he was standing in, was a kanji symbol for the number eleven, written in black as well.

She had seen a haori like that before. During her orientation, her class was visited by one of Seireitei's Squad captains, mostly to welcome them, but also to check to make sure the Academy was up-to-date on matters. She had introduced herself as Unohana Retsu, Fourth Squad captain, and on the back of her haori, that Sakina could see when the kindly woman turned around, was a kanji symbol for the number four. So if only captains of Seireitei wore haoris such as that one, did that mean the man before her was a captain, as well?

That idea was impossible, of course. She only knew him a short time, but she doubted someone with such a blatant regard of life and safety in order to enjoy fighting would be captain material. It was confusing enough that he was a shinigami in the first place. Then again, as she thought back, he seemed to command a lot of respect for someone who was just a shinigami. The receptionist almost wet himself when he was yelled at by this man. And she also doubted that any normal shinigami could flake on protocol quite as easily as a captain could.

Nevertheless, she had to ask, to be sure. "Who _are_ you?" It sounded more like the utterance of someone in awe. Sakina was not in awe; just confused.

He grinned in a way that resembled a tiger about to pounce on its prey. He replied, "Eleventh Squad captain, Zaraki Kenpachi."

So it was true then. And among all the thoughts swirling around her head, Sakina managed to blubber, "You… You're a _captain_?"

"Surprised?" he asked, amusingly, and suddenly, every word he ever said to her in Rukongai made perfect sense, as the last piece of his mysterious puzzle was put in place.

_"Do you know anything about shinigamis?"_

_"Haven't you ever heard of the phrase, 'Survival of the fittest'?"_

_"You'll see me around, if that's what you're worried about."_

"_The worse it did was tear up part of my uniform."_

_"I didn't go to that academy… I was an exception."_

Sakina patched together, from both research and rumours, that there were three ways to become a captain in Seireitei. One of those three was for the shinigami seeking captainship to challenge the current captain to a duel, and win, while a hundred of the squad members witnessed. It was a dangerous way to gain title and according to her sources, it was hardly practiced. But if the man before her was an exception, and yet a captain as well, he must have carried that forward.

And for some reason, that only made Sakina more nervous. He was already light years ahead of her in skill and ability, but as a captain, it was such an increase in power that should her whole Academy class challenge him at once, he'd still win. But as Sakina watched him, she began to understand how she could have missed his rank in the first place; he may have had a domineering pose, but he also seemed laid back, bored, and altogether uninterested in anything. What she gathered from watching the Fourth Squad captain was that propriety and posture were important in rank, but this captain, Zaraki, cared for neither.

Even if he didn't act like one, he was still a captain, and as a shinigami student, Sakina _should_ have bowed her head in respect. But she knew him from Rukongai; she forgot all about protocol and instead raised an eyebrow at him. She said, "I guess I should have known you couldn't be just a regular shinigami."

"It's because you're a poor judge of character," he answered simply.

The insult rolled so easily off his tongue. Her cheeks tingled as she suppressed the urge to scowl. She looked at him and retorted, "You don't have to put it so bluntly."

"I'm not going to beat around the bush when it comes to the truth."

"I may not know much about people, but I'm not -"

"Yes, you are."

This time, she did scowl. Her next words were spoken without thinking. "At least I plan on getting rank and recognition through my _own_ skills, instead of having to kill the one above me to get it!"

Yachiru winced. The dark look in Zaraki's eye would have melted Sakina on the spot, until the former grinned mordantly. He said, "I knew you would say something like that. You have a nasty habit of doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Putting your foot in your mouth. Ever since I met you, you've been doing that. You get bothered by the littlest thing and then attempt to put the spotlight on someone else by highlighting their greatest flaw. The sooner you learn to keep your mouth shut, the better."

Yachiru nodded energetically. She added, "That's the reason you were thrown into a tree."

Sakina blinked in confusion. "I was thrown into a tree by the Kidou performed by Yumi."

"No; that was just a consequence of the mistake you made in the beginning," Zaraki explained. He continued before Sakina could interrupt. "If you were just trying to avoid a fight, you should have let that egotistical boy brag a little while. The worst thing that would have happened would probably be getting the papers knocked out of your hands. By undermining his greatest pride, you gave him an incentive to kick your ass."

In hindsight, she did see where she went wrong. In all honesty, she should have gone around them like she thought of doing in the first place. She figured she didn't want to look like a coward; running away from two school bullies. Of course, thinking about what Zaraki had said made her ask, "How do you know what happened between me and them?"

He shrugged uninterestingly. Yachiru barely lost her position on his shoulder as he did so. It was almost as if she weighed nothing at all. He said, "I was watching."

Now her confusion and mild curiosity turned to anger. "Why the hell did you just _watch_? I could have been killed!"

"Tch. If there was any risk of that, I would have stopped them." The instinct in Sakina's mind jolted a bit, but her anger overpowered for a change. "I wanted to see how you handled yourself in a fight. I'm not surprised to see you failed miserably."

"Failed? I disarmed the best swordsman in the class! Barehanded!"

"And promptly got yourself shot into a tree," he added sharply. The simplicity of the statement made Sakina blush a bit. "If your objective was to just get away from them, then you should have gone for the girl chanting that spell."

"And then Iba would have cut my neck with his sword!"

He sighed. "First of all, you have to get over the fact that you may get cut once in a while. It's part of being a shinigami. Secondly, that boy had no intention of attacking you anyway. He was bidding time for his companion to finish her incantation. The whole fight relied on her."

"How do you know this?"

"If he really wanted to slice you, he would have. He wasn't standing in a fighting position and engaged you in pointless conversation, to eat up the time. Why do you think it was so easy to disarm the so-called best swordsman in the class? If he were fighting you for real, you wouldn't have been able to touch him."

"So you think I should have charged Yumi, who was standing further away?"

He nodded. "She had her eyes closed in concentration; a stupid, immature mistake. I hope your Academy teaches her better than that. One must always be focused on one's target, because if you had charged her, she wouldn't have seen it. That Iba character may have yelled something, but that would have broken her concentration and assuming she got her bearings before you got to her, she'd still have to restart the chant. By then, you'd be long gone."

"I…" She took a breath. "I never thought of that. I panicked when I saw him pointing a sword at me. We're not even issued weapons until we start sparring lessons."

"This is why you never underestimate an enemy."

She remembered her grandmother telling her that as well and how she promised herself that it wouldn't happen. Yet it was so easy to look at a situation and assume certain rules are being upheld. But then, she should have known that Iba, the class' best swordsman, would of course already have a sword. How else did he become the best? She swallowed the lump of embarrassment and muttered, "Thanks for the advice."

He scoffed again. "Thanks and apology. Is that all you know how to do?"

She smiled. It wouldn't be a proper conversation until he was sarcastic a few times, of course. She heard the pink-haired angel ask, "When does Saki-chan start her sparring lessons?"

Sakina smiled at her. "Next week, I believe."

"Then don't get yourself killed until then," Zaraki warned, though it sounded more like foresight. "If you can disarm someone barehanded, even if it wasn't much of a fight, I might be able to teach you something."

Before she could say another word, he had dashed away, with the little girl clutching his shoulder for support. It kicked up a bit of dust on the Quadrangle, making Sakina cough a little. She stood there for a few minutes before deciding to finally head back to her dorm. Though she was glad to see him again, and looked forward to next week when she would see him again still, there was a small part of her that worried about it; if it could be called worry; that was the best way to describe the pounding of her heart and sudden tension in her muscles. She figured it came from that instinct in her head. She didn't know if she liked the feeling, but at least it made her dreams pleasant…


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes**: Thank you for everyone's continued interest in my story! Enjoy the next segment!

* * *

"_When you are not __practicing__, remember, someone somewhere is __practicing__, and when you meet him he will win_." -- _Ed Macauley_

**Part II**: **Chapter III**

Even though she felt fine after she woke up from being jettisoned into a tree, Sakina discovered that she had a mild concussion. It was so mild in fact that all she needed was a very good night's sleep. As a result, she slept through two of her classes, one of which introduced a pop quiz, and had so much make-up homework to do afterwards that she practically spent the whole week in the library. Her dorm room had books piled up on every desk, in every corner, and papers strewn the floor. She was even almost late for another class, because she tripped on a mountain of books and sprained her ankle. But she managed to hobble to her class, which was being held in one of the training classrooms.

They had finally started the sparring lessons.

A lot of the students were looking forward to it, because they were also going to be issued weapons. The instructor didn't want to hand them out until the end of class, otherwise his students would all be distracted. Instead, he started with a lecture on what a weapon means to a shinigami. "Your Zanpakuto is an extension of your soul," the instructor said, referring to the weapon that a shinigami wields. He held up his own in demonstration. "The Zanpakutos we issue today are only a shell. Through time, training and kinship with your souls, you will be able to turn the shell into a formidable weapon."

He added, in a revered tone, "Depending on the soul, each Zanpakuto will be different from the other. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses; thus your weapon will reflect that. This is also why each Squad in Seireitei has different specialties. Learn what your strengths are in fighting, and that's how you are chosen for a particular Squad."

"I'm going to be in Seventh Squad, with my cousin," Iba whispered to Sakina. He and Yumi decided, again, to sit next to her in order to tease her more effectively. "You probably won't even graduate, so there's no need to speculate your Squad." Yumi giggled softly at that.

Sakina stared straight ahead, attempting to ignore them. She tried to heed Zaraki's advice that one night and not let the little things bother her too much. She didn't want to create a scene when she was trying to learn. Luckily, the instructor decided that the class needed a demonstration. He pointed to two random students and said, "You and you: come up here and let's show everyone the basics of a fighting stance."

Iba and Yumi watched intently. It seemed odd to Sakina that a boy who claimed to have been trained by a Squad's Lieutenant would pay so close attention to something described as 'basic', unless he didn't know as much about fighting as he claimed to know. Not that Sakina would test that theory; she underestimated things too easily.

The two students demonstrating were given wooden training swords, and that was a good thing; they tended to fall over too much and one of them accidentally smacked the other in the gut by missing a step. They were laughed at by the class until it finally ended. Just before they were all dismissed, the instructor called them up, one at a time, to get their Zanpakuto shell. All except Iba, of course, who spent the whole time bragging that he already had one. "I got it from my cousin," he explained unnecessarily. Everyone already knew that.

When Sakina was given her weapon, she looked at it curiously. It appeared the same as everyone else's; same hilt, guard and length of blade, but she wondered how she was supposed to develop the kinship with it that the instructor talked about. If it relied on reiatsu, she would never get it; she had no reiatsu to speak of. If it relied on strength or technique, she still wouldn't get it, for she didn't have much of that, either. Perhaps that was why it took such a long time for most shinigami to release their Zanpakutos: they have yet to figure out how to call on them.

If Sakina graduated, at this rate, she wouldn't get even a Seat in any Squad. If she graduated. She started to feel discouraged, but tried to put it out of her mind for now. After all, the mountains of homework in her room and infinite amount of research she needed from the library were more important at the present moment. She wasn't surprised to notice that as soon as class was dismissed, Iba, Yumi and a few others went off to the training rooms to practise swordplay. She felt sorry for whoever was going to be in charge of the sick ward that night…

* * *

Sakina had gone straight for the library after class and borrowed almost every book in the building to bring back to her dorm. There was so much stuff in her tiny room that she barely had space to move around. It took her roughly three hours to get caught up in one of her classes, but she still had a long way to go. She opened a text book in her Kidou class and groaned. Most of that class was simply practise on how to form reiatsu into shinigami magic, but there was also a very major essay that was needed on the principles behind Kidou, including who was the first shinigami to use it, how many Kidou spells in total there were, descriptions on the appearance and function of each magic, et cetera, et cetera. She hadn't even started it yet.

She dipped her brush in the ink and wrote on the paper in front of her, '_Kidou magic is_…' but couldn't think of how to finish the sentence. She was so busy in the library that she hadn't even unsheathed her sword, which was discarded under a pile of books. She wanted to practise sword fighting, but thought that getting caught up in the theory of her classes was more important at the moment. She vaguely thought of what her instructor said about Zankensouki, the art of developing all sides to a shinigami, and wondered if she should at least try to better herself in swordplay before working on her other projects. But then she also remembered that she needed at least a sixty percent on all tests, and should she be tested in Kidou and fail, she won't graduate, no matter how well she did in swordplay.

So she opened another text book and skimmed through it, hoping a description about Kidou would simply pop out at her. But it _had_ been a long day, and she was so tired. She attributed that to the fading concussion she had and tried to ignore the exhaustion. Unfortunately, after failing to find a better description and deciding to simply write, '_shinigami magic_…' she decided to take just a short nap, resting her head down on the opened text book. It would keep her brain sharp for when she took another crack at that impossibly long essay.

But she was asleep for far longer than she expected to be. It was late afternoon when she nodded off, and by the time she awoke, it was very late in the evening. She noticed the time off a clock hanging above her desk. She jolted up in her seat and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She didn't wake up on her own accord; there were two things that did that for her. The first was the sound of very loud partying coming from the male Dormitories next door, as well as the slightly milder partying from other dorms below hers. There were no classes the next day, so everyone was in a partying mood. But mostly what woke her was the second sound: a very faint, "Saki-chan… Saki-chan…" spoken every few moments.

Sakina looked around until she saw the most adorable bundle of childlike innocence wrapped up in a shinigami kimono sitting on her bed. She was kicking her dangling feet over the edge of the bed, being careful not to hit a small tower of books nearby. She smiled when she noticed Sakina looking at her. Despite her stress and exhaustion, upon seeing the pink-haired angel grinning at her, Sakina felt much more at ease. "Hello, Sweetheart," she said to the little girl. "How did you get into my dorm?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Your window was open."

Sakina looked out the window in disbelief. "My dorm is four stories up!"

She ignored the impossibility of her entrance and instead asked, "Is Saki-chan finally awake?" She waved a hand dismissively. "I don't know how you can sleep through all the noise."

She was referring to the partying, which responded with a loud, drunken yell in the hallway outside her door. It sounded masculine, so there was a good chance that the two party locations finally merged. Sakina was probably not going to get back to sleep until well after three in the morning. She said, "You get used to it after a while."

She looked unconvinced. "Even Eleventh Squad parties quieter than this."

"Do you sometimes visit Zaraki in Eleventh Squad?"

"I'm _Lieutenant_ of Eleventh Squad."

Sakina was taken aback. She quickly got her bearings back and replied, "_You're_ Lieutenant? But you're just a little girl!"

She giggled amusingly at her. "Lots of people say that. But I have yet to meet anyone who can beat me in a race without using Shunpo!"

Shunpo, Sakina learned in her research, was the art of gathering reiatsu at one's feet in order to cover great distances in an instant. It is a very difficult technique to use and even harder to master. Very few shinigami can do it; most of them, if they need to, simply use their reiatsu to add speed to their running pace. Doing that is still challenging, but no where near the level of difficulty that Shunpo requires. So the fact that this little girl proclaimed to be a faster runner than anyone else, Shunpo excluded, meant that she must really be at Lieutenant level.

Although Sakina could bet she was even stronger than that, especially if she could jump into a four story dorm. She didn't want to underestimate her just because she was young. But as her big, innocent eyes looked at the older girl, seemingly laughing at her, Sakina found that she could not help but think of her as a little girl who needed love and attention, not as a Lieutenant in the Court of Pure Souls. Yachiru looked around her room and asked, "Where's your sword, Saki-chan? Didn't you start sparring lessons today?"

Sakina winced as she remembered what she did with it the instant she got back to her dorm. She embarrassingly walked up to a corner of her room, where another tower of books stood, and pushed some aside. She picked up her Zanpakuto, still sheathed since the moment she got it. "I haven't even used it yet," she muttered.

But Yachiru just smiled at her. "That's okay, Saki-chan! Let's go to the Quadrangle again. Ken-chan said he was going to teach you how to fight."

The sweet, innocent look in her eyes almost prompted Sakina to agree, but the older girl took a quick look at the barely started essay on her desk, shadowed by her text books, and swallowed. "I can't go. I have a lot of homework to do. Besides, I have sparring classes to teach me how to fight."

She felt bad for saying 'no' to Yachiru, but the latter just scoffed in a very Zaraki kind of way and replied, "Homework can wait. You have no classes tomorrow, so you can do it all then. And your sparring classes teach you the basics of fighting. Ken-chan will teach you _actual_ fighting. You know; so you don't get thrown into any more trees."

Sakina laughed at that. The little spy knew her schedule better than she did herself. She was also laughing at the fact that Yachiru felt the need to try to convince her through remembrance of painful events. She didn't yet realize that if she told Sakina to jump through a flaming hoop, she would. "You're a very wise little girl, aren't you?"

Yachiru smiled at her. "Are we going then?"

Sakina walked up to her and patted her pink head, ruffling her hair a bit. "Of course, Sweetheart."


End file.
